As President Obama promotes his new emphasis on economic competitiveness and regulatory reason and in preparation for tonight’s State of the Union, reporters have been touching bases with the National Association of Manufacturers for comment. Those are core issues for manufacturers, after all.

[The] National Association of Manufacturers would like to see regulations come with an expiration date, according to its vice president of regulatory policy, Rosario Palmieri. “We believe that there is value in regulations having an end date, as technology changes, as the markets change, as products change,” he said. “Regulations put in place three or four decades ago might no longer be necessary or might be out of date.”

Aric Newhouse, a top lobbyist for the National Association of Manufacturers, says the White House has sent some “great signals,” in recent weeks, and he’ll be tuning into the State of the Union hoping to hear Obama build on them with more specific plans for taxes, trade, energy and regulatory policy. But he says the question will remain: “What actually happens over the next three, to six, to nine months? Do we see an aggressive growth agenda that will create jobs and turn this economy around?”

Indeed. Caution seems a reasonable position to take before a speech, especially when the President has been signaling a change in his Administration’s positions.

Taxes: Our complex and burdensome corporate tax code could be our largest roadblock to becoming more competitive, said Frank Vargo, vice president of the National Association of Manufacturers. We have one of the highest corporate tax rates in the developed world, which encourages multinational companies to set up subsidiaries abroad to escape U.S. taxes. Lower taxes on corporate income would encourage more businesses to keep factories, offices and jobs in the U.S.